City of Heroes Goes Rogue with New Expansion Pack

NCsoft and Paragon Studios to
Challenge Gamers to Walk the Line Between Good and Evil—or Cross it!

NCsoft, the world's premier
publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), and
Paragon Studios, the developer of City of Heroes®, today announced the
development of City of Heroes Going Rogue™, the first major expansion for the
City of Heroes franchise since the launch of City of Villains® in 2005. As the
name implies, Going Rogue will blur the line between heroes and villains in the
first and longest-running super-powered comic book MMO game.

In the Going Rogue expansion, hero
and villain characters will become immersed in the new parallel universe known
as Praetoria, which is governed by Tyrant™, the evil incarnation of the game’s
main protagonist, Statesman™. As gamers search for Tyrant and the rest of his
Praetorian guard, implacable foes and fierce resistance will arise to face them
from all sides, causing heroes and villains alike to question their loyalties.

City of Heroes Going Rogue will
introduce a new alignment system that helps players explore the shades of gray
that lie between good and evil. For the first time, hero characters can become
villains and vice versa, enabling hero archetypes to cross over to the Rogue
Isles™ and villain archetypes to experience Paragon City™. Clearly marked
missions, in addition to behaviors and decisions made by the player, will move a
hero’s or villain’s moral compass, which could eventually change the hero’s or
villain’s alignment. Going Rogue will also introduce two primary new fictional
characters representative of this alignment shift in the game’s lore: Maelstrom,
a pistol-wielding hero gone rogue, and Desdemona, a demon-summoning villain who
has been redeemed.

“City of Heroes has brought a fresh
new perspective to the MMO stage with its foray into the super-powered hero
comic book genre, and we are excited to present gamers with even more innovative
content in Going Rogue,” said Brian Clayton, general manager and executive
producer at Paragon Studios. “For years, players could choose between playing as
a hero or a villain. Now we will present a third, malleable path where players
can be affected by the results of their actions, enabling them to further
develop, unveil new perspectives, and overcome new challenges.”

NCsoft will share more details on
Going Rogue in the coming months. The game is currently in development by
NCsoft’s Paragon Studios, the City of Heroes development team that most recently
launched the ground-breaking Mission Architect system. The launch of Mission
Architect sets a significant milestone for City of Heroes as the first MMO to
allow players to create user-generated content. City of Heroes has and continues
to set new standards among its MMO peers and player community with its engaging
and approachable comic book-inspired universe theme and consistent delivery of
concepts that break the standard MMO mold.